Pereira Maintains, By Antonio Tabbuci

The Fox and Badger, Wellow, Thursday 28th June.

Apologies from Chris B and Steve.

There was a reasonable level of appreciation of Tabuchi's novel about the creeping effects of fascism on pre-war Lisbon, with general disappointment that the book didn`t deliver as much as it promised.

Richard described the politics of Portugal and the Salazar government whose dictatorship had only ended in the 1970s. This regime was well known for its ruthless implementation of fascist ruleat home and overseas. The leadership of the Catholic church too was in cahoots with the fascists although local priests often tried to support the Republican cause when possible.

Richard enjoyed the book – he thought that it was well realised – it grabbed him more as it progressed. He thought that it was well written but not one of the greatest books he`d read. The story was about an old journalist hiding from reality. The young revolutionary Rossi brings him back into the real world. A lot of debate about whether Pereira's final act of rebellion followed by his decision to leave his friends and country was a difficult decision or was it in fact an act of liberation for Rossi? The idea of a confederation of souls – each one taking its turn to come to the fore – was appreciated by both Richard and Rob as an explanation for an individual's character and behaviour.

Mark like the imagery, which took him straight to the streets of Lisbon. Enjoyable but too short and it particularly irritated him every time the word “maintains” cropped up! Apparently the original Italian version was called Pereira “declares” and not “maintains”… but with Steve being absent there was no point arguing whether anything had been lost in translation. Mark thought the idea of Pereira talking to his wife's picture was interesting but then not explored deeply enough.

Rob thought this was a strange book – the story progressively drew him in with its subtle but effective style. A predictable, enjoyable easy read.

Ras was not very impressed with this book – found it difficult to read and it ended up being a damp squib.

Neil too was not very impressed with the book. The introduction at the beginning of the book spoilt it (should have been the back of the book so it could be read afterwards). A week after having read the book he had to reread the end of the book to remember the finale (such as it was…)! He also found the character of Pereira implausible. Would somebody who has worked as a journalist all his life really be so naive? He was depicted as a bit of a bumbling old idiot, which was not realistic.

Chris W was looking forward to reading one of Europe's best translated novels of the 20th century (as promised on the cover) but although the atmosphere and imagery of pre-war Lisbon was good, the book never really delivered. The finale was too brief and it was unlikely that as a journalist Pereira could not have foreseen the outcome of his harbouring Rossi in his apartment. Good that it had informed him about this period in Portugal's history.

Chris`s comments were emailed in from afar. He enjoyed reading about the experience of living ordinary lives under a progressively totalitarian regime, and the historical, cultural and political setting was well painted. The violent event at the end comes as a suitable shock to the “ordinary lives” of the characters. The contrast between the young and sexy revolutionaries and the washed up journalist worked well too. Chris liked the book so much he started to re read it – enjoyably.

So a mixed reception for Antonio Tabucchi in the end… – you can`t please everyone all of the time!

A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh

The Pulteney Arms. May 31, 2012.

First published in 1934 A Handful of Dust deals with issues of class, social change, loyalty and faith, to name but four. Despite this, it's a shortish novel, written in an accessible style and with a deceptive lightness of touch. Today it is cited by some authorities as one of the great English novels of the 20th century. But what did the Bath Blokes make of it?

A mixed response, it's fair to say. The humour that Waugh uses to make his narrative slip down more easily left some cold. Others enjoyed this aspect of his writing (the description of the Master of Hounds standing in a distant field nibbling forlornly on an ginger nut…) finding it understated and more effective for it. Some found the writing style fairly anonymous, not really making a case for remark – again, others thought the writing highly skilled, the words and themes meticulously chosen, and the book an achievement in covering so much ground in relatively few pages.

To what extent was Waugh's subject matter relevant to us today? The degree to which the narrative was steeped in 1930's upper-class terminology made it harder for some to identify with the characters, and the apparent fickleness with which relationships were regarded raised a barrier to empathy. Some of the characters seemed plain unbelievable (Princess Abdul Akhbar, anyone?).

But there was genuine interest in the legal matters surrounding the plot – the impending change in the divorce laws, and the seemingly ridiculous subterfuges that were required beforehand to effect a legal separation.

On one hand, there was a sense of profound change in established ways of life and expectations – houses being split into flats, the future of Hetton in doubt (becoming a school perhaps – Chris W was very informative about the huge numbers of stately homes and estates that had to be sold to cover death duties pretty much until the 1970s), apparent lack of respect for the sanctity of marriage, and even in Brenda's case for her son's life and death.

As for Waugh himself, it was notable that we did spend quite a lot of time relating what we though about the book to what we thought about him – more than we normally would, I think. Perhaps this was partly because he's a well-documented writer, known to be irascible, perhaps pompous, not suffering fools gladly… but also from a middle class background himself and therefore arguably aligned more with Beaver than anyone else in the book. Ras wasn't impressed by Waugh's war record. We wondered, to what extent did the book's use of racially pejorative terms (shocking to us today) suit his literary purpose, or did they simply reflect the times he was writing about, and did he himself find them easy to use?

It's perhaps no surprise that, as the book's nominator, Steve was a fan - a masterclass in effective and elegant writing, though admittedly stretching credibility on occasion for 21st century consumers. Most support came from Neil and Mark Th, sadly neither of whom were there on the night! With all scores now in it averages 6.48, which slots in between Case Histories and Suite Francaise - mid-table anonymity.